A Win is a Win

After losing seven in a row, it's hard to argue about any positive Royals result, though last night's win won't win any beauty contests.

I’ve yet to find a league that determines their playoff field by how good the teams looked while winning. And with last night’s first Royals win in a week and a half, that’s probably a good thing because this one was on par with Buzz’s girlfriend in the grand scheme of wins. But, as the title suggests, a win is a win no matter how it’s sliced. And would you believe me if I told you that I believed the Royals would win for most of the game? You may not, but I can regain your trust by telling you that once they were scoreless through six, I fully believed I’d return to Inside the Crown by writing about an eighth straight loss. I’m glad that’s not the case.

I’ll get to the game in a minute, but it was a good night for the Royals in the playoff race. They’re tied by record with the Detroit Tigers and ahead of the Minnesota Twins, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays. Three of those five teams lost. The Tigers played the Rays, so one had to lose. And if we’re being honest, the wrong team lost for the Royals' playoff fate, but the standings suddenly feel a lot better for the Royals than they did when the day started, even though they remain in the second Wild Card spot for the moment due to holding the tiebreaker against Detroit.